The thing is... even with the letter...even if I take Christie at his word, several of the staffers who he hand-selected engaged in petty political retribution that may well have cost some constituents their lives (by way of nearly quadrupling 911 response times)... that doesn't really make me feel comfortable with his ability to pick a secretary of defense or state.

Screw firing them or letting them resign. If it can be proven they did this as a pressure or punishment tactic, then they should be prosecuted. If a regular person disrupted traffic on a major highway artery they'd be branded terrorists.

Digging up dirt on your opponent is typical politics. Twisting something your opponent said is typical politics. Selectively editing their words in an ad is typical politics.

Jamming up traffic to carry out a vendetta against someone who refused to endorse you is anything but typical politics. It delayed school buses and slowed down ambulances, endangering the lives of citizens.

Now you may believe Christie wasn't involved. He had no knowledge. He was still

1. Joking about the incident2. Supporting the lie that the cause was a traffic study3. Calling it no big deal4. Claiming his staff had nothing to do with it

And maybe you still believe Christie had no knowledge, despite the fact that

1. His Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Kelly ordered the lane closures2. His port authority appointed executive (and high school buddy with no transportation experience) David Wildstein replied "Got it", implying this plan had been discussed earlier3. They both joked about the mayor's desperate pleas for help, and about kids being late for school (but they were the kids of voters of Democratic opponent Buono - har har!)4. His PA Chairman David Samson being knowledgeable, and lying about what happened5. His press secretary Michael Dewniak being knowledgeable, and lying about what happened6. His campaign manager Bill Stepien being knowledgeable, and lying about what happened

Pretty much every major player in his administration was a part of or knew what was happening, and lied about it. But Christie didn't? Sure. Okay. At best he's completely incompetent and clueless as to what his staff is up to. That's if you believe he didn't know. Which is a giant if that I can only see someone accepting because their intense partisanship takes precedence over their need to observe the situation objectively and be honest with themselves. Regardless, nothing about this is typical politics. Not even close.

People, people, PEOPLE!. If you're going to use political office for corrupt purposes, use the TELEPHONE. Or better yet, meet them in person in some discrete location like the NJ Museum of Fine Art. Never leave a paper trail!

s2s2s2:So having brought the emails to the thread, and already mistaking one traffic study for another. Where is the evidence of retaliation for lack of election support?

Jesus, dude. Just buy a butt plug, some nipple clamps, and start crop-whipping yourself in the privacy of your own home. It's just uncouth at this point to expect people to keep flagellating you for your own benefit.

gja:Stone Meadow: After due consideration I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to Governor Christie for single-handedly ensuring the election of Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States. Well done sir!

I wonder if she will have them stop mowing the lawn because....natural.

Hillary is no earth-mama...not with the makeup, hairdos and polyester pantsuits. Wanna know what kind of President she'll be? Look at Angela Merkel...careful centrist coalition-building corporatist. No wars, heaven forbid, and she will leave office having spent 8 years reducing unemployment, raising minimum wages to get the poor off public assistance -- a hidden corporate welfare program, fixing the potholes, etc., and paying for it all with about a 50% cut to the defense budget.

It's not even what they did that bothers me. It's how poorly they did it. This is New farking Jersey, people. You're playing in the corruption big leagues and you're using motherfarking E-MAIL?! With your ACTUAL farkING NAMES attached?! You're blocking traffic for a bullshiat traffic study and you didn't even farking bother to make one up?!

Jesus Christ. It's must be a massive set of balls behind this, because anyone dumb enough to think it would actually work would have forgotten how to breathe years ago.

'Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney decided he could not pick Gov. Chris Christie as his running mate last year in part because the governor's background was "littered with potential land mines," according to a new book.'

----

This is only the first domino. There will be a very public investigation. There will be very public law suits. And then more stories like this will come out. Sit back and enjoy the Weiner-esque career implosion.

I'm with whoever said that there was no way this went down without his knowledge and OK. Why would staffers take it on themselves to do something like this, then brag about it in the most indiscreet way? And come to think of it, if they had done something so egregious without Christie's knowledge, they would have been fired as soon as this hit the headlines. Before. As soon as 142 characters about it hit Twitter.

kd8our:All in all I really don't see him running in 2016, truth be told I don't exactly see it in Hillary either. Sure both might come out and say they may run or they might even do it but not advance, but I don't think we will see a Clinton vs Christie battle in 2016. Simply put the spot light has been on them before the results of the last election. I don't really see either of them putting up with that until then. Having that kind of attention will really wear somebody down and that is without the work of actually running.

Christie won't run. When Romney vetted him, they dropped him like a hot brick, he has tons of skeletons. Hillary is going to run and win easily.

The mayor of Fort Lee,NJ was just on Chris Hayes. He said he tried calling Christie's office and every cell phone number for every Christie aide he knew during the bridge incident. No one would answer their phone or return his calls,they still haven't. Needless to say,he seems a little pissed.

All in all I really don't see him running in 2016, truth be told I don't exactly see it in Hillary either. Sure both might come out and say they may run or they might even do it but not advance, but I don't think we will see a Clinton vs Christie battle in 2016. Simply put the spot light has been on them before the results of the last election. I don't really see either of them putting up with that until then. Having that kind of attention will really wear somebody down and that is without the work of actually running.

s2s2s2:I've been corrected on the Springfield thing. I still don't see the evidence for what people are saying about this, in those emails. Since they were using personal accounts, perhaps there was personal stuff included, and therefore redacted. I'm not making declarations of guilt until I see proof. It's the American way. Those emails are far from damning.

dantheman195:Darth Macho: HKW: BigOle8point: I hope a bunch of heads roll over this. How in the heck could you have so much hate inside you to fark the general public like that? Including your own constituents?

The same hate that would force vets of an open mall 'because its closed'.

Somehow I don't think the government shutdown went down like this:

But that's just me.

But who spends more money closing a park, with law enforcement detail than if they just 'left it'?

Probably someone beset by antigovernment protestors who refused public notices not to trespass on unbudgeted and closed federal land. It was a completely unnecessary waste of taxpayer dollars brought on by taxpayers unwilling to just *stay the hell away during the shutdown*.

The shutdown was not a punitive action by the White House. It was the mandatory result of Congress not meeting its budget deadline.

Digging up dirt on your opponent is typical politics. Twisting something your opponent said is typical politics. Selectively editing their words in an ad is typical politics.

Jamming up traffic to carry out a vendetta against someone who refused to endorse you is anything but typical politics. It delayed school buses and slowed down ambulances, endangering the lives of citizens.

Now you may believe Christie wasn't involved. He had no knowledge. He was still

1. Joking about the incident2. Supporting the lie that the cause was a traffic study3. Calling it no big deal4. Claiming his staff had nothing to do with it

And maybe you still believe Christie had no knowledge, despite the fact that

1. His Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Kelly ordered the lane closures2. His port authority appointed executive (and high school buddy with no transportation experience) David Wildstein replied "Got it", implying this plan had been discussed earlier3. They both joked about the mayor's desperate pleas for help, and about kids being late for school (but they were the kids of voters of Democratic opponent Buono - har har!)4. His PA Chairman David Samson being knowledgeable, and lying about what happened5. His press secretary Michael Dewniak being knowledgeable, and lying about what happened6. His campaign manager Bill Stepien being knowledgeable, and lying about what happened

Pretty much every major player in his administration was a part of or knew what was happening, and lied about it. But Christie didn't? Sure. Okay. At best he's completely incompetent and clueless as to what his staff is up to. That's if you believe he didn't know. Which is a giant if that I can only see someone accepting because their intense partisanship takes precedence over their need to observe the situation objectively and be honest with themselves. Regardless, nothing about this is typical politics. Not even close.

Of course I link to a breakdown right after yours, which sums it up. One other thing: Wildstein lied to state lawmakers during a hearing. Like the cherry on top of a giant hot fudge sundae of deliciously derailed presidential hopes.

gja:Stone Meadow: gja: Stone Meadow: After due consideration I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to Governor Christie for single-handedly ensuring the election of Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States. Well done sir!

I wonder if she will have them stop mowing the lawn because....natural.

Hillary is no earth-mama...not with the makeup, hairdos and polyester pantsuits. Wanna know what kind of President she'll be? Look at Angela Merkel...careful centrist coalition-building corporatist. No wars, heaven forbid, and she will leave office having spent 8 years reducing unemployment, raising minimum wages to get the poor off public assistance -- a hidden corporate welfare program, fixing the potholes, etc., and paying for it all with about a 50% cut to the defense budget.

You will pardon me if I do not believe that she would be as you describe.She is quite happy playing to special interest lobby groups.And her leanings are such I cannot accept her.She is no Angela Merkel.

Personally I would prefer Elizabeth Warren, but she is a n00b and far too common sense liberal to win.

Monkeyfark Ridiculous:It's always slightly surprising to me what pols get away with easily and what they have trouble with. Playing politics with public resources is the kind of thing I would expect a big city mayor to be doing pretty much ALL the time. This bridge thing seems kind of petty for a governor's office, but with no sex or money involved, I'd have thought a guy like Christie in a state like NJ might even get away with coming right out and samjacksoning it. "You're gotdamned right I did..."

Then again maybe I don't entirely understand the underlying shenanigans that they're trying to cover up.

a) It is now a conspiracyb) Can you trust Christie to hire good people?c) Is the this the tenor of his leadership?d) What other political ratfarks do we not know about?

Monkeyfark Ridiculous:It's always slightly surprising to me what pols get away with easily and what they have trouble with. Playing politics with public resources is the kind of thing I would expect a big city mayor to be doing pretty much ALL the time. This bridge thing seems kind of petty for a governor's office, but with no sex or money involved, I'd have thought a guy like Christie in a state like NJ might even get away with coming right out and samjacksoning it. "You're gotdamned right I did..."

Then again maybe I don't entirely understand the underlying shenanigans that they're trying to cover up.

Since it is a federal criminal offense, that might not be a great idea.

The problem with this kind of scandal is that people can't really know if the governor personally ordered the machine of state to pursue his personal vendetta. The drip, drip, drip of information leading in that direction encourages people to THINK he did.

It's like finding out a used car has a serious flaw the seller tried to keep from you. What else has he been hiding? Best to just cut ties to be safe.

Stone Meadow:RepoManTSM: Stone Meadow: gja: Stone Meadow: After due consideration I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to Governor Christie for single-handedly ensuring the election of Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States. Well done sir!

I wonder if she will have them stop mowing the lawn because....natural.

Hillary is no earth-mama...not with the makeup, hairdos and polyester pantsuits. Wanna know what kind of President she'll be? Look at Angela Merkel...careful centrist coalition-building corporatist. No wars, heaven forbid, and she will leave office having spent 8 years reducing unemployment, raising minimum wages to get the poor off public assistance -- a hidden corporate welfare program, fixing the potholes, etc., and paying for it all with about a 50% cut to the defense budget.

I think you really under estimate the military-industrial complex.

I was around during the post-Viet Nam draw down, and it wasn't pretty. When Congress gets it in their minds to reduce spending there is only one non-entitlement area that scale of money can come from, and it's the military. They've had a great 20+ year boom, but all good things must come to an end and now it's their turn.

Agreed.

When you outspend the next ten nations in combined military spending, you might need to cut back a bit and focus on stuff like education and infrastructure to advance our interests. It's long overdue.

Stone Meadow:gja: Stone Meadow: After due consideration I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to Governor Christie for single-handedly ensuring the election of Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States. Well done sir!

I wonder if she will have them stop mowing the lawn because....natural.

Hillary is no earth-mama...not with the makeup, hairdos and polyester pantsuits. Wanna know what kind of President she'll be? Look at Angela Merkel...careful centrist coalition-building corporatist. No wars, heaven forbid, and she will leave office having spent 8 years reducing unemployment, raising minimum wages to get the poor off public assistance -- a hidden corporate welfare program, fixing the potholes, etc., and paying for it all with about a 50% cut to the defense budget.

Weaksauce. He needs to invite the Justice Department to do a full scan of his entire staff to determine how far the rot goes, and have each and every one of them thrown in jail. Anything less, and I have to assume he's guilty as hell and should be shot on sight.

FuturePastNow:Throwing is aides under the bus is really his only possible option here. He may even be telling the truth about not knowing what they were up to. This ultimately won't hurt him unless further evidence shows that to be untrue.

There is no way he didn't know. You don't pull shiat like this without getting a go ahead from the boss man. Proving it is another matter. But it just takes one person not falling on his sword, and there are a lot of people with their hands dirty with this.

Assembly Deputy Speaker and Transportation Committee Chair John Wisniewski (D) -- "We have here finally a witness that will further testify to Chris Christie's rule over a criminal empire that controls all of the bridges in this state and perhaps in other states. This witness has had no buffer between himself and Chris Christie. He can corroborate our charges on enough counts for this committee to recommend charges of corruption and perjury against Chris Christie. Senator."

NickelP:Benevolent Misanthrope: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Politician makes prepared political statement about rogue staffers. We shall see what the staffers have to say when offered a chance to turn Christie over.

Why would they do that? Its not like he farked them on this. shiat went bad yeah it is what it is. I am sure he will be calling big donor's to hook them up with a job.

This. Christie is smart enough. What will happen is something like this.

"Hey look, I know you'll take some heat for this, but don't worry. I made some phone calls, and my friends will hook you up with a job that will pay you even better than this one does. Of course, that's assuming you don't do something silly like talk to the press."

El_Perro:The very least he should have said: "This behavior is not representative of me or my administration in any way, and I have asked for Bridget Anne Kelly's resignation, effective immediately."

"Words can't begin to express my disappointment. What Bridget did is anathema to everything I stand for, and, I thought that Bridget shared those values. I am heartbroken to discovery that she did not. And so, it is with great sadness that I must now eat her."